“We are not demanding that Zelensky surrender. We demand an end to the resistance.”

“An Invisible Weapon”

Commenting on Vladimir Putin’s latest statement about the “unprecedented weapons” in the hands of the Russian Federation, Lavrov said that the Russian President presented the developments three years ago.

“First, it’s hypersonic. As he explained clearly and in detail, we started dealing with them after the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty… We had to deal with hypersonic weapons because we knew very well that the US missile defense system was not aimed at North Korea and Iran. “We needed weapons that are guaranteed to be able to defeat missile defense. Otherwise, a country with missile defense and offensive weapons may be tempted to launch the first attack in the hope that the response will be suppressed by missile defense systems,” he said. .

According to him, Russia does not hide the existence of such weapons.

“Russia has never stopped its efforts to reach agreements that would guarantee that a nuclear war does not start,” he said. So, in June 2021, at a meeting of the Presidents of the Russian Federation and the USA Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in Geneva, “a statement was adopted on the inadmissibility of nuclear war.” The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry added that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have agreed to a similar agreement on the initiative of the Russian side.

According to him, the West, led by the United States, “has taken every possible means to indulge the leaders of Ukraine (his successors Poroshenko and Zelensky) in their desire to create threats to Russia.”

“Our regular warnings in November and December last year about the need to stop NATO’s reckless expansion to the East and agree on security guarantees that would not be associated with the participation of new countries in military-political blocs were rejected. . They even answered us, albeit not very politely: “This is none of your business”, “We will expand NATO as we wish”, “we will not ask you,” Lavrov said.

gas in rubles

The minister explained that Russia converted the gas payment into rubles because “money (more than 300 billion dollars) was stolen” from him.

“They took and stole. Most of the amount received for the supply of gas and oil. This was possible because PJSC “Gazprom” had to keep money in its accounts in Western banks … They wanted to “punish” Russia – they stole. Now they offer us to continue trading as before and the money will stay with them. They will pocket it again whenever they want. That’s why,” explained Lavrov.

According to him, Russia proposed that “delivers should be considered paid to Gazprombank not when euros or dollars have arrived, but when converted into rubles, which can no longer be stolen”.

“That’s the whole story. Our partners are well aware of this. It’s important for buyers that nothing changes. They still pay the contractual amounts in euros and dollars. The conversion is done after that. We have no right to allow the West to continue its theft habits in front of our own people,” he said.

No negotiations

The head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that, at the request of the President of Ukraine, Moscow accepted the negotiations and they began to develop. In March in Istanbul, “at the negotiators’ meeting, some agreements were outlined based on what Zelenski said publicly.”

“He said that Ukraine is ready to become a neutral, non-bloc, non-nuclear country with the understanding that security guarantees will be provided. We were prepared to work on this basis with the understanding that the agreement would state that security guarantees do not apply to Crimea and Donbass, as the Ukrainians themselves suggest. They changed their positions right after this offer, which they sent to us with a signature on paper. Now they are trying to build the negotiations in a different way. “While initially these guarantees should be accepted by everyone, including Russia, they specifically want to get security guarantees from the West,” Lavrov said.

He noted that Zelensky also said that “Ukraine is ready for its non-bloc neutral status, has taken a serious step”, and Russia welcomes this.

“Only after that, his ministers, the head of the Ukrainian parliament, began to declare that they would receive security guarantees, but would keep the goal of joining NATO (as it was written in their constitution). Immediately, both NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg and the British began to say that if the Ukrainians want to depart from this goal, they have the right to do so, ”added Lavrov.

“Who Can Bring Peace”

Answering the question of who can initiate the process for reconciliation of Russia, the West and Ukraine, and who can bring peace, Lavrov said that the Ukrainian presidents can do this.

All the world’s problems could have been solved by Petro Poroshenko, who was elected in 2014 with the slogan ‘Peace in Donbass’. Then he started a war. Vladimir Zelensky can decide. He also introduced himself as “president of the world” during the election campaign. In December 2019, he signed in Paris the obligation to fulfill the Minsk agreements and adopt a law on granting the Donbass special status within the framework of the sole territorial integrity of Ukraine. He had every chance. The Foreign Minister said that he has all the “cards” and “trump cards”.

According to him, the president of Ukraine at that time preferred to “declare that he would never fulfill the Minsk agreements”, allegedly “this meant the collapse of the Ukrainian people, the state.

According to Lavrov, “Now Zelensky can also bring peace.”

“We are not asking him to surrender. We are asking him to order the release of all civilians and the cessation of resistance. Our goal is not regime change in Ukraine… The safety of people in eastern Ukraine are not threatened by the militarization or debasement of this country, and there is no threat to their security. We want to provide for the Russian Federation, from the territory of Ukraine,” Lavrov said.

May 9

“There was a tradition in the USSR – for a holiday it was imperative to do something big, loud,” said the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“We are concentrating our actions in Ukraine only on the tasks I have mentioned. It was announced by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin – the protection and security of the civilian population, the absence of any threat on the territory of Ukraine for them and the Russian Federation associated with offensive weapons and Nazism, which the West is actively trying to underestimate … It will not artificially adjust its actions at some point in time,” he said.

“The speed of the operation in Ukraine depends, first of all, on the need to minimize any risk to the civilian population and Russian military personnel.”